Moodle 2.

4 Student Handbook

What is Moodle?
Moodle is a course management system used to create and deliver dynamic interactive online courses.

Logging In To Moodle
Students must wait until the first day of the term to enter an online course. To login in to Moodle, use your WebAdvisor username and your eight digit date of birth (mmddyyyy). If you need to reset your password send an email to the Distance Learning office at dl-information@mitchellcc.edu.

Enter your WebAdvisor username

You password is your eight digit date of birth (mmddyyyy).

Logging Out of Moodle

To logout of Moodle, return to the main course page (course home page). Click on "Logout" next to your name in the top left corner. Click on Logout to exit Moodle

The Moodle Home Page

After you login to Moodle, you will be directed to the Moodle home page, which contains Site News and a list of courses. The Site News is news about Moodle - updates, changes, etc. Below the Site news you will see a list of all the Moodle courses you are currently enrolled in. To open a course, click on the course name. After clicking on the course name, you will enter your course

Courses you are enrolled in will be listed under My courses.

Click on the course title to open the course.

Page Layout & Blocks

The main course page in Moodle is divided into blocks and weeks/topics. Blocks are located on the left and right columns of the window. Your instructor can customize the blocks in your course to meet the needs of the course. Course content is organized by either weeks or topics and is the middle column of the course.

Blocks
Blocks are tools located in the left and right columns. There are many different blocks or tools that your instructor can make available to you. Some common blocks are included in the image below People, Navigation, Settings, Search Forum, Campus Links, and Calendar. Your instructor may choose to create a custom block that includes specific information related to your course.

Weeks/ Topics
Course content, or resources and activities, is typically organized by week or by topic. Weekly organization is indicated by dates for each section of content. The course in the image below is organized by weeks. Courses organized by topic, will have the label "Topic" and the topic number instead of dates. You may see all weeks/topics at once, or the weeks/topics may be made available as your course progresses.

Description of Items: 1. 2. Your Name / Logout - Click on your name to view your profile. Click logout to exit Moodle. Navigation Bar Also known as the breadcrumb trail. The last item in the trail represents your current location. To move to the previous screen, click on the next-to-last item in the breadcrumb trail. To return to your main course page (view seen above), click on the course name. Clicking on Home, will return you to the main Moodle home page listing all available courses. 3. Navigation block - The navigation block appears on every page of the site. It contains an expanding tree menu which includes My Home, Site Pages, My Profile, and Courses. What appears in the navigation block depends on the role of the user, where they are in the Moodle site, and any settings that have been applied globally. 4. Settings block - The settings block provides context-sensitive links to settings pages. The main menu items (Course Administration and My profile settings) contain a submenu and can be collapsed or expanded to display the menu as shown above. 5. 6. Site Links This block contains links to MCC Google Email, WebAdvisor, and Smarthinking Tutorial. Course Information area - This area contains course information such as the syllabus, news forum, social forums, and other materials you will refer back to during the semester.

7. 8. 9.

News Forum The News Forum is where your instructor will post announcements and course updates. You should check the News Forum often. Week/Topic Heading Your course will be organized by weeks or by topics. Each week/topic will have a heading with an overview of the covered material. Course Links Items highlighted or shaded represent a course link or a glossary link. Clicking on the highlighted word will take you to that specific resource or activity.

Navigating & Moving Around

When moving around in your Moodle course, use the navigation tools to move from one area to another. Below are the tools and buttons, you can use to move around in your online course. The new Navigation block provides easy access to various sections of the Moodle site and includes: Home Quick access to the MCC Moodle homepage My home - a personalized home page displaying links to the courses a user is associated with and activity information (such as unread forum posts and upcoming assignments). Site pages - links to site pages and resources from the front page of Moodle (if enabled by Moodle Admin). My profile - quick links allowing a user to view their profile, forums posts, blogs and messages as well as manage their private files. My courses - Links (by course short name) to courses the user is associated with. Click the course's short name to view the front page of the course or use the arrows to navigate quickly to a specific section, resource or activity.

It is recommended that you do not use the Back and Forward buttons on your web browser when using Moodle. Using the Navigation links provided will ensure you always see the latest version of a page (i.e.: a forum with all posts). Be careful to update, save or post any changes you make before moving on to another page to avoid losing your work.

Bread Crumb Trail

Use the bread crumb trail to move around in your course. The bread crumb trail is located at the top of the Moodle window. As you move through the layers of your course, you will see a bread crumb for each layer. The last bread crumb represents your current location. To move to the previous screen, click on the next bread crumb. To return to the main course page, click on the course title. Clicking on Home will return you to the Moodle home page, listing all of your available courses.

Moodle Home page

Main course page

Actual course page

Topic

Current Location

Course Link
The course button located at the bottom of the page in the course site will take you back to the main course page or the course homepage. This button is labeled with the course name and is located on every page in the course site.

On the main course page or the course home page, this button will be labeled "Home" and will take you to the Moodle home page listing all available courses

Customizing Your Profile

Edit Profile
Your profile is visible to other participants and contains information about you. The default information includes your name, country, city, first and last access, Email address, Moodle courses you are enrolled in, and your roles (student, teacher, etc.). If you want others to view more information about you, you can edit your profile to add more information to your profile. You can also manage some course preferences from your profile as well.

To edit your profile

On the homepage in the Settings block, under My profile settings Click Edit profile

Click Edit profile under My profile settings

General Settings
First and Last name
You cannot change your name in Moodle.

Email Settings
Your Moodle profile contains your Google school email account. Users may hide their email addresses in Moodle, but they may not disable them.

Forum Settings
By default, all users are automatically subscribed to forums. When a user posts to a discussion forum they will receive email copies of all subsequent posts made to the forum. To prevent an overflow of email messages in your inbox we suggest you use this setting:

Forum Auto-Subscribe No: dont automatically subscribe me to forums.

Another setting we recommend is : Forum tracking Yes: hightlight new posts for me.

This setting will display the number of posts in a forum you have not read yet.

Description
Use the description field to provide a brief introduction about yourself. You could include items such as hobbies, interests, program of study.

User Picture
You may include a picture in your profile. Your picture must be a JPG or PNG file format. Your picture will be automatically resized and appear next to your forum postings, messages etc. Upload your photo by dragging and dropping it into the files area or by clicking the Add link in the upper left hand corner of the b ox.

Click Add to upload your picture or drag and drop your file into the file selection box

Important Note: Moodle drag and drop requirements: Minimum browser: Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 10, Safari 5, Google Chrome 11, and Opera 9 If you click Add to upload your picture to Moodle, click the "Upload a file from the list in the File picker, and select the image from your hard disk. When you are taken back to your profile page, the image might not appear to have changed. If this is so, just use the "Reload" button in your browser. To delete your image, click in the check box next to Delete.

Saving Changes to Your Profile

After you have finished making the desired changes to your profile, click on the Update Profile button at the bottom of the window.

Changing Passwords
A user can change their password in the Settings block > My Profile settings > Change password link.

The password must have at least 8 characters. You will enter the current password, enter new password and enter new password again.

Messaging
Users can receive message alerts for a number of different reasons and can also send and receive instant messages. How a user receives notification of incoming messages can be set in Navigation > My profile > Messages.

This brings up a message navigation box where users can choose what messages and from what courses they wish to view. Choose My contacts drop down arrow.

You will now be able to see the contacts you have chosen under Message navigation. Click on a name to see an existing message or to create a new message in the box provided.

Click on Send message when ready.

Pop up
When a user is logged into Moodle, the message will pop up from the bottom right corner of the page. The user can choose to read the message immediately or to ignore it. If they choose to ignore it, the message returns until it is read.

Click Go to messages Click on the contact name to view your message

Forum module
The forum module is an activity where students and teachers can exchange ideas by posting comments. There are four basic forum types. Forum posts can be graded by the teacher or other students. Forums are represented by the forum button. Each time you see this button, the item is a type of

forum. There is some forum terminology you will need to know to get started. To begin, each forum contains one or more discussion topics. In each discussion topic, there are posts. A post is any comment added to the forum and consist of the initial response or replies made to other posts. Here is an example, your instructor has asked what you found to be the most helpful or important aspect of an assignment. Each student will start a new topic in the forum. The first post in each discussion topic is the student's reply to the prompt. From there other students can reply to topics or start their own.

Forums have a tool that allows you to subscribe to that forum. Subscribing to a forum means that you will receive email alerts when new posts are made to a forum. Your instructor has the option to make subscription optional or required. News forums typically require subscription so that students automatically receive email alerts when posts are made to the News forum. There are several uses for forums in Moodle. Below are a few. News forums are used to relay announcements and important class information. Your instructor will post announcements to the News Forum that is located in the first block of your course. It is recommended that you check the News Forum each time you log into your online course. Because the news forum is used for announcements, students do not have permissions to respond to the posts made there. Social forums are a place where you can discuss relevant topics with other class participants. Social forums do not typically contain graded course materials or course information. They are simply for entertainment and getting to know other course participants. Graded or activity forums are typically used to discuss course material. Your instructor will provide with a prompt or topic to discuss with other students. Because these forums are typically graded, it is important to follow and guides or rubrics your instructor provides.

Reading forum posts

News Forums
The News Forums is located in the top center section of every course homepage. This Forum is where your instructor will post announcements pertinent to the course. You should check this forum every week to make sure you do not miss any announcements.

When you click on the News Forum, you will see a list of all forum discussion topics. Each forum contains discussion topics with posts. The News Forum is where you will receive announcements or important information from your instructor. Be sure to check the News Forum on a regular basis. Remember, in the News forum, you will not be able to reply or add a post.

The next steps will demonstrate opening and responding to a forum discussion. To enter a forum discussion click on the forum link

Follow instructions as written by your instructor. An example is presented below.

When you wish to add a discussion, click the button -The screen below opens up allowing you to type your post. Enter a title for your discussion topic. Next, enter your initial response to the prompt or your question/comment. You can also add hyperlinks and images to your post. After you have completed your post, click on the "Post to forum button.

Enter text in this area.

Click Add to upload a file (attachment) or drag and drop your file into the file selection box

Click Post to forum

Important Note: Moodle drag and drop requirements: Minimum browser: Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 10, Safari 5, Google Chrome 11, and Opera 9 You will receive a confirmation of your post to the discussion topic. You will be able to edit your response for approximately 30 minutes after you post it. For participants that are subscribed to this forum, email alerts to new posts will also not be delivered until after the 30-minute editing period. Clicking on Continue will return you to the main page for this forum.

Your post was successfully added. You have 30 mins to edit it if you want to make any changes. (Continue)

And the submission screen appears displaying your new discussion topic.

Should you need to edit or delete the post, click the post title for editing or deleting under Discussion.

Your post will re-appear and you have three options: Edit, Delete, and Reply.

Should you choose edit, your discussion screen will re-appear. Make any changes as necessary.

Click Save changes button.

Should you choose delete, you will receive a prompt as follows:

Graded or Activity Forums

Click on the forum that you want to read.

Below is an example of what may appear when opening the forum.

There are 5 types of forums A single simple discussion A single discussion topic which everyone can reply Each person posts one discussion Each student can post exactly one new discussion topic, which everyone can then reply to Q and A forum Students must first post their perspectives before viewing other students posts Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time, and in which discussion topics are displayed on one page with :Discuss this topic links Standard forum for general use An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time

Managing Content
The way Moodle 2.2 handles/stores files works like Web 2.0 systems, such as Facebook and Google Docs. Each activity and each text has its own file area, and files are associated directly with the place it is used. For example, a file attached to a forum post is stored "with" the forum post, and becomes subject to exactly the same access restrictions. A private files area is provided for each user to store a collection of files for their own use. This is useful for students as well as teachers, and makes it easy to re-use media across the Moodle site. Only you can access your own private files.

My private files on the right side of the My Home page.

Private Files
To create folders and upload files in My Private Files: On the My Home page, in the My private files block, click Manage my private files.

Or In the Navigation block, click My profile and then click My private files.

Adding Folders to My Private Files It is best to organize your files inside folders. Click Create folder.

Enter a name for your folder and click Create folder.

Click Save Changes when you are finished.

Adding Files to My Private Files

If you want to add a file without putting it in a folder, drag and drop your file from your computer into the file selection box or click the Add button. If you want to add a file to a folder click the folder name.

Be sure to click Save changes after you drag and drop your file.

Important Note: Moodle drag and drop requirements: Minimum browser: Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 10, Safari 5, Google Chrome 11, Opera 9 If you do not want to use the drag and drop feature you can upload a file by clicking on Add in the upper left hand corner of the file selection box.

When you click Add the File picker is displayed with My private files.

Select Upload a file, then click the Browse button to locate the file you want to upload.

Give the file a different name if you wish in the Save as field and click the Upload this file button.

Your file is uploaded to the Private files area. Be sure to save your changes so your file will be uploaded permanently.

Note: You can add a file to a folder by opening the folder before uploading the file or you can right click
on the file you have uploaded and choose the folder using the Path drop-down menu.

Completing Assignments
Submit an Assignment
To submit a file (upload) for an assignment that is due in your class, click on the assignment. (Your assignment names / numbers will change according to an instructors preference.)

After clicking on Assignment, you will have the option to upload files. Click on upload files.

You can drag and drop your file into the File box or click Add and use the File Picker.

Or click on Add.

Select the file you wish to attach from its current location.

The file chosen will appear in the File name box.

Press the open button or enter on the keyboard.

The file name appears here.

Click on the Upload this file button.

Click save changes.

Click the Submit assignment button when you are ready to submit your work.

You will see the status of your submission and that your work has been submitted for grading.

Some assignments may require students to accept a submission statement verifying the content of their work. Below is an example of a submission statement. If present in an assignment, the student must accept the statement before the work can be submitted.

There are 4 different types of assignments you may have in Moodle. Uploading of Files This option allows students to submit drafts of assignments, receive feedback from their instructor. Online Text The student will type text directly into Moodle. The assignment will appear in the gradebook and the teacher can send feedback to the student. Offline Activity This is an assignment that is completed outside of the Moodle environment. Teachers give the students instructions and a due date for an assignment outside of Moodle. However, the assignment will appear in the gradebook and faculty can send feedback to the student.

Quizzes & Tests

Quizzes are represented by the icon. Each time you see this icon, the item is a quiz or test. When you first open a quiz, Moodle will display the grading method for the quiz, the number of allowed attempts and whether or not the quiz is timed. To begin a quiz, click on the "Attempt quiz now" button.

After opening the quiz attempt, you will be prompted to confirm that you wish to proceed with the quiz.

Taking a Quiz
Complete each question on the page. There are many different question types available in Moodle. If you have problems with a quiz or question type, answer the question to the best of your knowledge or you have the option of flagging the question so that you may return to it later. Click on the quiz link on the course homepage and read the information to check you're in the right quiz.

Click on "Attempt quiz now" button. Click on the "Next" button at the bottom of the page to see the next page of questions. Click on the "flag" in the box next to the question to put a temporary marker on it.

Number of attempts

Timer

Timed Quizzes
Quizzes can be timed or have no time limit. With a timed quiz, you will see a timer in the top left corner of the window. The timer will start as soon as you confirm that you wish to begin the quiz and will continue without pause until it runs out. As you move through the test, the timer will move through the page with you. Notice the Quiz navigation block in the upper left corner. You can use it to jump to any question. Question boxes for the current page are in bold. Flagged questions will have a "red corner" in their box

When you reach the end of the quiz the "Summary of attempt" page is displayed - it allows you to review the questions and alerts you to questions not attempted. Click on any question page number or "Return to attempt" to go back to the quiz.

Click on "Submit all and finish" to have your quiz scored.

Note: Once you click submit all and finish in the confirmation box, you can no longer change your answers.

Managing Your Grades

To view your grades, click on Grades in the Settings block under the Administration panel.

Your grades will be listed in a table along with any feedback from your instructor. To review an activity or grade, click on the item name in the list.

Technical Help
Recommended Operating Systems and Browsers for Moodle
Internet Explorer 7.0 or later IE 10 is recommended (free download) (opens in new window) Firefox 3 or later (free download) (opens in new window)

Moodle Support
Assistance with using Moodle is available between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Contact Distance Learning Support at dl-information@mitchellcc.edu or visit our MCC website, distance learning page.

This manual was created by the Mitchell Community College Distance Learning Department Emily Nestor Distance Learning Instructional Technician Cyndy Nantz Distance Learning Pitt Community College North Dakota Distance Learning System